San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1887-11-14
THREE Elton boys.
BY W. Z. NORRIS

ndu become perfectly cOlOfleSS, ne showed
no traces Of emotion. He waited until he
was close beside me, and then said quite
quietly, Stunning has broken his back
Maynard"
All of a sudden the groom burst out
crying. i don't know anything more
painful and pathetic to witness than the
unrestrained weeping Of those who belong
TO what we call the lower orders. 1t is all
very well to say that they feel less deeply
than we who have been schooled TO CON
troll ourselves; but sometimes | doubt
whether they really do feel less deeply,
and whether, after all, we have much
right to consider ourselves superior to
them because, as we assume, our sorrow
Outlasts theirs. For in truth all sorrow is
short lived enough.
Bracknell glanced at the man, knitting
his brows. flames" he said, ~ believe
l blamed you Just now was wrong;
you were not to blame. / beg your par
don, James"
He spoke in a hard, level voice. He
had made mistake and apologized for it.;
but he was not, apparently, moved. Pres
emily he turned away, taking me by the
arm and saying, "Come upstairs and see
the boy. There is no more suffering now;
through the night, they say"
followed him up the stairs and across
the landing, wondering little at his calm
ness. But with his hand upon the lock of
door, from the other side of which came
an audible murmur of voices, he faced
about abruptly, his eyes blazing and his
white face set.
damn that womanr' he exclaimed.
"She promised me that the boy should
never ride alone again, and she has killed
him rather than have one of her cursed
flirtations interrupted"
l caught him by the arm to stop him,
for his voice rang through the silent house;
but he guessed what l was afraid of, and
broke into an odd, savage sort of laugh.
ooh, don't distress YOURSELF" he said,
'it's all one to her-she doesn't carer'
Then he went into Sunning's room.
The poor little man was lying fiat on his
back where they had laid him. His cheeks
were as white as marble, and his features
were pinched and sharp, but of all the
crowd of faces which | saw confusedly as
/ entered, his was the most cheerful
Lady Bracknell was sitting by the win
dow, pressing her handkerchief to her lips.
She looked frightened, / thought. Beside
her stood Jim, who, | suppose, had come
to the house upon the errand that we
know of, and had been admitted. Lady
Mildred was there too, and Sunning's old
nurse, and Lord Staines, and Mr.. Turner;
but none of them spoke to me, nor did |
venture to do more than glance at them.
Summing had his dog little blue Skye,
on the bed beside him. He held out his
left hand to me, for his right arm was
crushed and pOwerless, and smiled. We
had been friends, more so than / have had
any occasion to mention in the course of
this narrative, and think he was glad to
see me. He wished me to have the dog,
he said, and l was to take him away with
me, please, because he wouldn't lie still
much longer, land he hasn't had his walk
to-day" He had few last words to say
to me, but they were only few, for his
strength was evidently ebbing fast, and /
could see that his childish brain was pre-
occupied. His eyes kept wandering from
one member of the group to another, but
always rested longest upon his father,
whose broad shoulders were turned
toward us, and whose elbow l touched at
last, feeling sure that the boy wanted to
speak to him.
Bracknell wheeled round hastily and
dropped on his knees beside the bed.
eyes, my boy" he said, "what is it?"
"Father," whispered Summing, ''you
won't have Sheila shot, will your don't
want Shiela to be shot"
His eyes grew very large and piteous,
and there was culver about the corners
of his mouth. No doubt he ad had some
experience of his fathers passionate
nature, and feared that, in fit of unrea-
SOning fury, he might take vengeance upon
the irresponsible cause Of his sons death.
But Bracknell answered gruff1y, mo,
my boy; nobody shall harm her. I'll
swear that"
Summing gave little sigh of relief,
looked curiOusly at his father for a mo-
ment, and then turned his head toward
Lord Staines, who was sitting motiOnless
on the other side of the bed, in what
seemed like a state of nerveless stupor.
Never mind, gram" he said; sit
DOESN'T hurt" And then, you're so
aHfuDy old, too, gran; you'll come SOON"
Lord Staines made no answer, but
Mr.. Turner rose and approached, wiping
the tears away from his foolish old eyes
with large silk pocket handkerchief
1--WE shall go to you; but you will not
come back to us, Summing" he began. /
don't care to quote the rest of his re-
marks. He was a cleric of the old fash.
toned school, who had not, | should
imagine, occupied himself much with the
subject of eschatOlOgy. II was, perhaps,
right that he should give utterancc to his
views, which, | am sure, were at any rate
sincere; but those stereotyped phrases
about the New Jerusalem and white
winged angels and golden harps, cuunci-
ated with a certain pOmposity, despite the
occasional quavering of the speakers
voice, Jared somewhat upon my ears, as
dare say they did upon those of several
other persons present. Summing listened
patiently. Thank God, he had not many
sins, even of childish kind, to rcproach
himself with. He had always been
good boy, as well as brave one, ANA had
no need to dread the unknown iutlre, he
that what it may.
After a time, he beckOned to me and
put the dog into my arms. "GoOdDy,
Bluey," he whispered. The dog licked
his face and he patted its rough head, and
then for the first time two great tears
welled up into his eyes and brimmed over.
l bent over him and kissed him, and
then picked up the dog and went away.
had no right to intrude upon the scene
which could see was close at hand; and
besides, to tell the truth, couldn't bear
it any longer. Many sadder things than
a child's death are happening in the world
every hour One may look back upon it
dispassionately now and say that it was
perhaps well that our poor little Summing
should have been taken from us-that if
he had lived, he might not have been
happy; that he woulG almost certainly
have been badly brought up; that
he would have succeeded to a di-